E-Paper
Kanpur mobile tower scam: CBI conducts searches in Lucknow after FIR against 3 army officers
Monthly rent received for the installation of the towers not deposited in the government treasury; there is a possibility that this rent was usurped by the accused officers, CBI stated in the FIR.
LUCKNOW The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of the CBI carried out searches at different locations in Lucknow in connection with the installation of seven mobile towers in Kanpur’s Cantonment area that was allegedly done in gross violation of rules, said officials here on Monday morning.
On September 1, the CBI had registered an FIR against three army officials and a Lucknow-based company that installed the towers with the ACB police station in Lucknow. The CBI named the then station commander of Kanpur station headquarters between 2016 and 2019, Brigadier Naveen Singh, his staff officers, Lieutenant Colonel RP Ram, Colonel Dushyant Singh, Indus Towers Limited, its officials and other unnamed people.
The three officers and the company were booked under IPC sections 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (dishonesty) and Prevention of Corruption Act. The FIR was registered after approval from the Ministry of Defence on July 25, 2023.
The CBI gathered evidence by raiding the residences of the three army officers in Lucknow Cantt and the company’s office at BBD Tower in Lucknow’s Vibhuti Khand on Sunday.
The FIR stated that the agency had received information that during his posting in Kanpur, Brigadier Naveen Singh had handed over the work of illegally installing seven mobile towers to Indus Towers Limited of Lucknow. It was the responsibility of the Cantonment Board to get this work done and the defence ministry had issued guidelines in this regard through a circular in 2018. Preliminary investigations revealed that brigadier did not follow the guidelines given by the ministry.
They did not even constitute a board to identify the place for installing mobile towers, the FIR said.
“The monthly rent received for the installation of the towers was not deposited in the government treasury. There is a possibility that this rent was usurped by the accused officers. Allegations are also that the army officers misused their position to oblige Indus Towers Limited and availed undue benefits from the company,” the CBI stated in the FIR.
Investigations revealed that Lieutenant Colonel RP Ram, who was the staff officer of the station commander, gave the work to Indus Towers Limited on a trial basis, saying that the tender would be issued after six months, after which towers were installed at two places.
